My husband's family is full of fun and interesting people. One of my favorites has always been his cousin Nick. Nick is hilarious, a real American hero and about 4 years ago he found me, my sister-in-law, and ALL his sister-in-laws a solid girl for the crew! Leann is not only gorgeous, funny and kind but she's so creative. To date we've already made so many projects together I've lost count. But this latest has my heart. . .

Here's Nick and Leann getting engaged with the help of the Detroit Lions. They don't live in Michigan, let alone Detroit, this is just how cool they are!

Leann's idea was to use her grandmother's handwriting of the words "Love you," have it printed on fabric and have that fabric made into a pillow as a Christmas gift to her mom. I mean CAN YOU EVEN?!

Step one was to upload and print the fabric from spoonflower.com then cut that out to the front facing square. Decided a simple white canvas for the backing.

Always press those seams! And then close up the bottom as much as possible still being able to fit in the pillow insert.

Here is my Tip of the Post: when closing the opening you left for the pillow insert, pins are a fun option. . .not, the pillow wants to keep pushing the pins back out! Do yourself a favor and just baste stitch the opening closed and then go in for the kill with matching thread with the hidden stitch.

Look at them! There's Leann in the middle flanked by beauitful handwriting Grandma, and that special recipient Mom, with two extra sisters just to make this picture perfect!

Last but not least send that heartfelt, most thoughtful, sweet gift off putting all your faith in the mail to get it there on time (that's another whole blog post). And sit back and relax. . .BUT NOT ON THE PILLOW, it's too special. . .love you, thanks for reading!

Need to make an adorable but practical Halloween costume for baby. Follow these simple steps and you can make a little Dwarf/Gnome Hat and beard set!

Take a few measurements:

Around Baby's head, all the way from the crown of head under chin and back up.

Measure around top of head.

These guys were 22" around, then 17" on top of their heads.

Cut two hat pieces this bottom measurement for the opening is 9" for a total of 18" which you'll lose a bit of in seam allowance. Also cut a circle with the circumference of your "top of head" measurement. And cut a length of elastic to the measurement of the "around the head."

Then cut two beard pieces, one about 9" down to a point and about 6 or 7" inches in length, and a second one about 7" down to a point and about 3 or 4 long.

Find the center of the elastic, zig-zag or knit stitch the beard pieces on to the elastic. Then overlapping the elastic slightly stitch them to the top of head circle you cut.

Stitch around the hat, leaving the bottom open, roll up the extra fabric to form a plush brim and hot glue the rolled brim to the hat so it doesn't unroll. Stuff it with a little bit of polyfil.

Hot glue the little wrinkles just with a bead of glue and pinch them, I liked these pinches at the back of the hat but you could pinch it so it arcs forward.

Then hot glue the top of head circle to the sides of the hat, keeping the poly-fil in place.

Marie and Josh are great. Their house is set back on an amazing piece of property, I mean just look at that backyard! Josh helped me put up the bay window valance even though I desperately wanted to put it up myself and make them walk into their kitchen HGTV surprise style. They are the best sports ever, I hope to work with them again. Despite the intimidation of scallops below are simple instructions that should take the fear out of approaching a scalloped sewing project, and you can see how easy this look comes together.

Deterimine the height of your valance and add 2 inches. These valances were to be 18" when finished so I cut 20" strips. Cut your strips being cognoscente of the pattern repeat. Meaning if you need to join more than one width together you'll need to cut it at the repeat, so if the repeat is 27", cut 27" strips even if you only need 20", you'll have to waste the other 7" inches.

If your valances will require more than 54" inches in width, join the strips, matching the pattern if need be, to get the size widths you need. I was making three valances one was 60" finished, 80" finished, and 128" finished.

Take the time to make you scallop template, out of tissue or another fabric. Taking into account where the peaks of the scallops will fall. You may want to custom cut the scallops to really fit the space you are making it for. I decided an 11" scallop repeat would work for the space I was working with.

I started from the middle of each valance and worked my way out. By folding the whole length of the panel in half and placing your template from the fold outward to the end of the length you'll ensure your scallop's symmetry. I add 1 1/2" to the length needed that will be folded back to form a clean side so cut the 1 1/2" flush with the part of the scallop you end.

Next cut strips of lining. I like to use blackout lining for valances. so I cut strips of 20" blackout and pinned right sides together. Then stitched with a 5/8th seam allowance along the scalloped edge.

at the edges fold back the lining and the feature fabric an 1 1/2"

Then I cut off the excess lining so the blackout lining and scallops were the same shape, you could have done this prior to stitching the layers together but I find it easier to do so after stitching.

Then clip clip clip all those curves.

On the right side of the fabric under stitch the clipped seam allowance, of both the feature fabric and lining to the lining

This is what the under stitching should look like

When folded the understitching should see to it that the lining pulls to the underside an the scallops should now lay flat, that ever important clipping made that work.

Cut off one inch of the top of JUST the lining

The lining is now 1" smaller than the feature fabric stitch the top together with a 5/8th seam allowance.

Now turn the whole valance right side out. Split the difference between the top and the hem so you see a bit of feature fabric at the top and bottom on the back side. Pin all over so it stays in place while you straight stitch the rod pocket.

Hand stitch closed the side of the valance(s) from the rod pocket to the hem. You're done sewing! now install :)

I was thrilled when Robyn asked me to make a banner for her sweet little Hadley. This was the first name banner I had the honor of putting together, but hopefully not the last. Here is how it all came together. . .

Hadley's nursery has grey walls and hints of mint green and light pink, so this was my palate inspiration.

Hadley's bedding is this ultra chic and feminine Colette collection from Serena and Lily. I took most of my inspiration for the accents and details from the bumper. The hints of matte gold helped me select the ribbon for the top and the gentle oval shape inspired the rounded shape of each pendant. The mix of geometry, loops and dots, are what inspired the two coordinating prints you see in my color palate picture.

I did some math on how big the overall banner should be, about 7' with 6 letters about 3" appart, etc. I went with each pendant about 6" by 10" and decided to alternate the colors.

Then I layered a block of the print in the alternating colors on top. The block is about 5" by 7"

Using spray glue, I adhered the pendants to a white felt backing and then the block on top of the pendant

Then using mircosoft word, sorry to burst your bubble if you thought I was that good at cutting out letters free hand, I found a good rounded font and printed the letters out big enough to fit in the blocks and cut them out of a solid grey twill.

And back to spray glue those letters down, and let it dry!

Now that the spray glue has dried I cut them all out

Now I have some nice and sturdy pendants ready to be hot glued to a ribbon

I unrolled the ribbon and laid the pendants facedown and hot glued them 1/2" up and about 3" apart leaving 1' a either side

I took some 18" strip, cut a little shorter and a little longer for some depth, and staggered them on top of each other

Then hot glued the strips together in an overlapping manner at the top

Again using the hot glue made two loop, one large to form the bow and another that wrapped around the middle for the bow-center

Hot glued those fabric strips on top of the end of the long ribbon with the pendants on it

Then hot glueded the bows on top of that to neatly finish it

Behind the bows I used two spare drapery ring clips I had but you could use any small loop, wire or even a paper clip to make a hook. Then simply hit two nails into the wall and hang the loops on the nails. Et Voila!

My husband and I had just arrived at THE winter event in Detroit, The Detroit International Auto Show. At a company pre-party, where everyone works for the auto industry, I am a novelty. Not only do I not work in automotive, sometimes it's hard to explain what I do "DO." I was so exited to meet Chris, we were instantly New Non-Automotive Party Friends. I explained what I "do" and within seconds Chris and Bill invited me to their home at my earliest convince to check out their 25' window and cornice they'd like upholstered. Now, we were all at least one drink in so while I was already day-dreaming about their project I tried not to get my hopes up lest they change their mind.

Lucky for me they were completely serious! And a joy to work with, I hope we will be able to work together again! I loved this project if you can't tell :)

They have a state of the art home that is completely "smart". They wanted to have automated shades (they can control with their PHONE!!!) and after those were installed Bill would handle making the cornice board. My job was to upholster the cornice board.

Bill did amazing job! Just like when my Dad makes cornice boards for me, they look so beautiful plain sometimes it's hard to cover them with fabric, and check those sleek shades!

I gathered my friends. That gorgeous print? It's Fynn by Premiere Prints. I made over 50' of coordinating pipe and on we went. This job was a little different as I had to have everything ready to go. I matched up and cut the print prior to install, not pictured the 3/4" batting; also not pictured my nerves hoping I got all the measurements right.

Step One, spray glue down the batting to the front face.

Step two, staple down front face fabric and pipe. In this picture you can also see the strip of fabric for the top face laying face down ready to be stapled down.

Step three, all of the layers sandwiched together. front face, pipe, top face and the secret to it all Dritz Upholstery Strip makes a nice crisp fold. AND STAPLE.

Time to check in. If you are working with a print make sure it is matching. Make sure you don't have any bumps pleats or folds. Smooth it all down and get ready to STAPLE some more!

Step four and five, for this job, I didn't want to complicate things, normally I would have run hot glue with a ribbon to cover all those staples and make a finished edge on the back that no one ever sees, however I didn't want to run the risk the extra bulk from doing that might cause. Then I stapled down the front face fabric on underneath and laid down the piping.

Step six, time to sandwich everything together again on the underside. Front face fabric, piping, lining, and the cardboard strips.

Step 7, I tucked the lining under and stapled it close to the top. Again I kept it simple with this job. Many times lining the bottom of the top face would have been ideal and then bringing the lining from the bottom of the front face together to meet in the crease, but it just didn't make sense to do it that way for this job.

Step 8, Bill wanted to do some faux panels at each side to complete the look. We went with a coordinating solid red. With the board so tight there was not much room. The best plan was to just staple the panels flat with a few pleats. The finished look was perfect.

Last, but certainly not least, I found a great complimenting fabric to tie things together. Chris and Bill have touches of red through out their main living area, but it's always a good idea to use the rule of threes, which in interior design just means you need to repeat a color or theme at least 3 times to make flow and look right. When I saw this stripe fabric I knew the neutral with pop of red was the perfect print to bring in some more red. Ah and the boat :)

I was so excited when my friend Danielle asked me to work on a valance for her kitchen. Danielle has great style and I knew I was going to love working on her project! She recently updated her kitchen and got NEW WINDOWS!!! It was time to put down some serious game when it came to her new window treatment. Here is what we came up with :) And you can read all about how this look came together!

I used three fabrics. Sunbrella Vellum for the lack lining. Sunbrella fabrics are amazing! They are moisture, sun, and stain repellent.The feature fabric was the Iman Plantation fabric. Then sandwiched in between these two fabrics I put a layer of black out. Black out, on it's own, would have been a great lining, but since the valance was not very big instead of adding a hidden pocket for the rod, I just used three entire layers, as you'll see. For a rod I used a 2 1/2" Dauphine Pocket rod. And last but not least some great premium tri-color twisted cord for the trim.

Then using tissue I played around until I got the shape just right. Bonus I could see the exact pattern in the fabric through the tissue.

Then I pinned the cord in place. Cord has a bit of stretch to it so it is best to pin in place before baste stitching, especially with all the curves in this valance.

Here in this photo you see the black out fabric. I basted together the blackout, feature fabric, and the cord.

Then I pinned the Subrella backing and the feature fabric right sides together.

Here you see how easily the piping foot neatly and precisely attaches the cord.

Then it was time to clip all those curves! Clip Clip CLIP!

After I was done clipping I under-stitched all of the seam allowances to the back liner. This helps the valance lay flat and helps the cord lay forward.

Then it was time to create the pocket and stitch on the cord to the top.

Keeping the feature fabric out of the way I used the blackout and the Subrella backer to form the pocket. I was able to draw a line right on to the blackout liner. Then I attached the cord to the top, stitching it to the feature fabric and the blackout. And folded the cord and feature fabric down and the Sunbrella down so they met at the cord. I hand stitched them all together at to top. I did the same at the sides. Forgive me for not having a photo!